<h3>Things Go Better...</h3>

Seals go better with Coke...

Hard to believe, eh? We saw this Great White off Gansbaai early Sunday morning. Zonker got the first shot from the Dutch Boy's boat and, about half an hour later, when he lured the thing to the side for a better shot of the logo, I took the second (without luck, I'm afraid). He's a big bugger—the shark, not Zonker. I've cropped these pics, but the link gives higher-resolution copies. I reckon it must have been darted before the Coke logo was ironed to its belly.


Getting Ahab to expose himself...

The way South African ecotourism's going, this sort of thing doesn't surprise me in the least. They've a guy called the Whale Crier down the road at Hermanus. Sponsored by an oil company and a retail outlet that cares, he blows his horn when the whales, predominantly Southern Rights, for whom Walker Bay's a reserve, drift close to shore. Tourists rush to the railings and most point excitedly at the windblown sea, seeing nothing.

I took some crappy video (on a Norwegian-speaking camera) of a couple of whales past Gansbaai when my friend Amé was down a couple of months back, but these shark stills are far better.

The Shark is not a friendly fish | That fact it's always proving | It seems this creatures' favorite dish is | Anything that's moving | He'll chew your face off in a flash | Or cheat you if you let him | So never loan him any cash | And be careful when you pet him.

Weird Al Yankovic | Shark